HOPE Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 01 | The Game
  • Overview
  • Object of the Game
  • Material
  • Galaxy Tile
• Setup
  • 1. Game Board
  • 2. Technology Center
  • 3. Regression Monolith
  • 4. Cockpit
  • 5. Spaceships
  • 6. Mission Track
  • 7. Deal Cards
• 02 | The Game Turn
  • A. Movement
    • A1. Navigate
    • A2. Polarize
  • B. Terraforming
    • B1. Placing Pioneers
    • B2. Refilling Your Hand of Technology Cards
    • B3. Stabilizing a Galaxy
    • B4. Bonus Tokens
  • C. Medals
    • C1. Gaining Medals
    • C2. Using Medals
• 03 | Traitor
  • The Traitor
  • Accusing the Traitor
  • The Traitor's Power
• 04 | Game End
  • When Does the Game End?
  • Finding the Winner
• 05 | Variants
  • Difficulty Levels
  • The Bug Cards
• 06 | Characters
  • The Brave
  • The Earthling
  • The Prodigy
  • The Prism
• F.A.Q.
  • Technology Card
  • Border of the Universe
  • Stabilizing a Galaxy Tile
  • Regression
  • The Prism
  • The Prodigy
  • Bonus Tokens
  • Traitor

01 | The Game

Overview

In HOPE, your mission is to save the universe from the Regression by terraforming barren planets to give them life.

To do this, you must provide each planet with the technology to supply the one element it is missing of the 6 essential ones: Oxygen, Water, Carbon, Light, Plant Life, Animal Life.

When you have terraformed all planets of a galaxy, it becomes stable and is thereby protected against Regression.

HOPE is a cooperative adventure, but in the end, one player will be declared the winner.

In this race against time a bit of opportunism and a keen sense of timing will help you to come out on top...

Save the universe from the Regression by stabilizing as many galaxies as possible before they vanish.

Object of the Game

In HOPE, you may belong to H.O.P.E. or to N.O.P.E., with each side having a different victory condition.

Victory of H.O.P.E.: If you belong to the H.O.P.E. team, you must place enough Pioneers on the Mission Track before the Regression Marker reaches the final space. To be declared the winner, you must have more Pioneers on the Mission Track and in your Cockpit than anyone else at the end of the game.

Victory of N.O.P.E.: If you belong to N.O.P.E., you must stop the heroes of H.O.P.E. from reaching the end of the Mission Track before the Regression Marker gets there. However, in order to win, you must also be the one with the most Pioneers in the universe (i.e. on the Galaxy Tiles).

Material

• 1 Game Board (6 parts)
• 4 Cockpit Boards
• 20 Bug Cards
• 1 Regression Monolith
• 36 Galaxy Tiles
• 1 Technology Center
• 5 Role Cards
• 1 Regression Marker
• 1 Flag
• 1 Earth Tile
• 1 Mission Track
• 4 Spaceships
• 16 Navigation Levers
• 1 First Player Pioneer
• 4 Character Tiles
• 70 Technology Cards
• 4 x 25 Pioneers
• 30 Medals
• 16 Bonus Tokens

Galaxy Tile

A Galaxy Tile shows three dimensions (Red, Blue and Purple), each with one or more Barren Planets (non-terraformed), a Technology Symbol in the centre, and a Positioning Arrow.

The suction cup of the flag helps you to pick up and flip the Galaxy Tiles when you stabilize them.

Setup

1. Game Board

Assemble the 6 parts of the game board, following the pattern in its center. Place the Earth Tile in the center of the board as indicated and distribute the 36 Galaxy Tiles randomly around the Earth Tile.

Place the "barren" side up (i.e. the technology symbol in the middle of each Galaxy Tile must be visible).

NOTE: The positioning arrows of all tiles must point into the same direction.

2. Technology Center

Place the Technology Center next to the game board. Draw 3 random Technology Cards and place them face up onto the 3 upper spaces of the Technology Center (the Replenishment Zone). These cards must show the Regression symbol; keep drawing until you have placed 3 such cards.

The 3 lower card spaces of the Technology Center (Discard Zone) remain empty. Shuffle and place the remaining Technology Cards face down on the photo in the Technology Center; these form the Technology deck.

Put the Bonus Tokens on the Bonus Token supply spaces. Put 5 tokens on each of the first and second spaces and 6 tokens on the third space. (See page 18 for adjusting the difficulty level.)

3. Regression Monolith

This indicates which Galaxy Tile will disappear in the Regression.

Draw a Technology Card from the deck. Place the Regression Monolith on the Galaxy Tile on the border of the universe that shows the same technology as the card and has the least number of planets. If there is more than one such tile, the youngest player decides.

If no Galaxy Tile shows this technology, draw a new card.

These cards are then returned to the bottom of the deck.

4. Cockpit

Each player takes a random Cockpit board and the Spaceship, the Navigation Levers and all Pioneer figures of that color. Then choose a Character Tile and insert it into the Cockpit. Place a Navigation Lever in each navigation option slot of the Cockpit. Insert a Pioneer in the corresponding holes of the "Start"

NOTE: You should take your seat in front of your Cockpit.

5. Spaceships

Beginning with the first player and going clockwise, each player places her Spaceship on one dimension of the Earth Tile. Up to two Spaceships may start the game in same dimension.

In the course of the game, any number of Spaceships may occupy the same Galaxy Tile and dimension.

6. Mission Track

This track shows the status of the Regression and the progress of stabilization. Put the Mission Track to one side of the game board so that all players have easy access to it.

Place the Regression Marker on the first space of the Mission Track.

7. Deal Cards

Deal Technology Cards to all players. The number of cards you get is indicated at the bottom right of your Character Tile; this is your Technology Level.

You can play with or without a traitor (see page 16).

If you play with a traitor, take as many H.O.P.E. Role Cards as there are players and then add the N.O.P.E. Role Card.

Each player secretly draws one card that indicates her role in the game. It is possible that nobody will receive the traitor role. Put the remaining card back into the box without looking at it.

02 | The Game Turn

The player who most recently viewed a science-fiction movie takes the first turn.

Play goes clockwise round the table.

A turn has four phases: A Movement, B Terraforming, C Medals, D Regression.

A. Movement

On her turn, a player may either: Navigate or Polarize.

NOTE: You may only perform one navigation per turn.

A1. Navigate

Indicate the type of navigation by activating one Navigation Lever of your Cockpit.

You cannot use the same navigation option again until you reactivate it.

NOTE: You may only perform one navigation per turn.

The Cockpit has four navigation options: Navigate towards gravity, Navigate away from gravity, Sideways navigation, and Arbitrary navigation.

Gravity Points: The 3 colored points around the board represent the gravity that attracts the Spaceship depending on the dimension in which it is currently located.

To navigate forward means to move towards the gravity point.

To navigate backward means to move away from the gravity point.

For example, if a Spaceship is in the blue dimension, the blue gravity point is the reference for its navigation.

Navigation towards the gravity point: Staying in the same dimension, your Spaceship travels towards gravity (i.e. nearer to the gravity point). This means that you have 2 possible navigation paths.

Navigation away from the gravity point: Staying in the same dimension, your Spaceship travels against gravity (i.e. away from the gravity point). This means that you have 2 possible navigation paths.

Sideways navigation: Your Spaceship navigates from galaxy to galaxy along an unbroken path of the same dimension, without entering another dimension. It cannot navigate across corners and may only navigate along dimension spaces that share a common border.

Arbitrary navigation: Use any one of the other three navigation options.

Example: the Spaceship is in the blue dimension. Accordingly, its navigation refers to the blue gravity point. When it navigates in the direction of gravity, it follows a direct line towards that gravity point on one of the two possible routes. It may stop, at the discretion of its owner, on any space of its dimension along that route (on any blue space, in this example).

A2. Polarize

• Polarizing allows you to change the dimension in which your Spaceship navigates.
• You may not perform normal navigation in that turn.
• You may only polarize if you have already used at least one navigation lever.
• During a polarization, you reactivate all your navigation options (levers).
• In a turn in which you polarize, you may place Pioneers before or after the Polarization shift, but not both.

Exceptions:

If the Spaceship leaves the universe during a Polarization, it will reappear on the Earth Tile in the new dimension reached by polarizing.

If, at the beginning of your turn, all your navigation options are available (unused) AND you cannot navigate, you place your spaceship on the same dimension of the Earth Tile and carry on with your turn.

To polarize, perform the following steps in the order given.

1. Identify the color of the dimension in which your Spaceship is located. Example: The Spaceship is in the red dimension.
2. Find the new dimension on the Earth tile by going from your current dimension color to the next one in clockwise direction. This gives you the color of the new dimension. Example: After polarization the Spaceship must end up in the blue dimension.
3. Find the Gravity Point for the new dimension. Example: The Spaceship must polarize to the nearest blue dimension space in the direction towards the blue Gravity Point.
4. Shift your Spaceship to the new dimension space. Example: The Spaceship shifts.

B. Terraforming

With this action, you add the missing element to a planet to make that planet habitable. To do this, you place Pioneers on planets by playing Technology Cards.

On your turn, you must decide whether you want to terraform or to refill your hand of Technology Cards (see page 11).

B1. Placing Pioneers

You may place Pioneers on non-terraformed planets all along your navigation path. This includes your start and destination Galaxies.

You must observe the following rules:

1. Place your Pioneers only on planets of your current dimension.
2. Place your Pioneers in the order of your navigation steps.
3. Spend the required Technology Cards.

Phase 1: Spending Technology Cards

For each Pioneer you want to place on a planet you must discard Technology Cards in one of three ways:

• One card that shows the same technology symbol as the Galaxy Tile you are on.
• One Joker card. A Joker stands for any required technology.
• You may place two identical Technology Cards; they act just like one Joker card.

Place the used cards, in the order of their use, in a pile in front of you. If you played two identical cards, place them in any order of your choice.

Phase 2: Replenishing Technologies

1. At the end of your turn, place the pile of used Technology Cards that is in front of you face up on one of the 3 spaces in the Discard Zone (1). You may choose the space.
2. Then, take the Technology Card from the Replenishment Zone space (2) above that discard space into your hand.
3. Refill this replenishment space with a card from the deck (3).

If the pile runs out, retrieve the Technology Cards in the Discard Zone (1), except the 3 on the top.

Shuffle this deck and put it back, face down, on the pile slot (3).

B2. Refilling Your Hand of Technology Cards

If you did not place a Pioneer during your turn, draw Technology Cards from the deck in the Technology Center up to your hand limit.

Your hand limit is the technology level number as indicated in your Cockpit.

You cannot discard Technology Cards in the refilling phase.

You may not voluntarily take back any Pioneers you placed.

(Example: the player refills its hand up to 6 Technology Cards.)

B3. Stabilizing a Galaxy

A Galaxy Tile becomes stable when there is a pioneer on each of its planets.

When you achieve this, take all the Pioneers from this tile and place them, in any order and one Pioneer per space, on the Pioneer Track of the Mission Track board.

If the Regression Marker is on one of these spaces, put the Pioneer on the next free space.

NOTE: When the Regression Marker advances later in the game, this will leave a gap in the line of pioneers. Such a gap always remains until the end of the game.

Then flip this Galaxy Tile to its stable side (using the Flag as a tool). Take care to maintain the direction of the positioning arrow, just as you did during the setup.

The player who placed the last Pioneer proudly places the Flag and flips the Galaxy Tile.

B4. Bonus Tokens

After you have stabilized a Galaxy Tile, take a Bonus Token from the Technology Center and place it face up on the center of the tile.

Take the Bonus Token from the top of a stack, beginning with stack 1. When this stack is empty, draw from stack 2 and finally from stack 3.

The player who stabilized the Galaxy may not take the Bonus Token immediately. The first player who enters a stabilized Galaxy Tile may take the Bonus Token.

There will be only one Bonus Token per Galaxy Tile during the game.

You keep these Bonus Tokens and may use them at any time during your turn.

There are 4 types of Bonus Tokens:

• Draw 2 Technology Cards: Draw them from the deck; you may exceed your hand limit to draw these cards.
• Take an additional Movement Action: As usual, you may navigate your Spaceship or Polarize. If you navigate, you are restricted to your remaining navigation options.
• Gain 2 Medals.
• General Polarization: This immediately affects all players. The active player decides whether it will go clockwise or counterclockwise. It can be done at any time during the navigation. The Navigation Levers are not reactivated.

C. Medals

You get them for certain actions. You can spend them to enhance your character's abilities.

C1. Gaining Medals

There are two ways to gain Medals:

1. When you place one or more Pioneers on a Galaxy Tile on which there are already one or more Pioneers of other players, but none of your own, you get as many Medals as there are other players on the tile.

   The players who already have Pioneers on the tile gain 1 Medal each. It is the number of players that counts and not the number of Pioneers.

   For example, player Green places a Pioneer on a tile where two other players already have Pioneers. Player Green thus gets 2 Medals. The other players get 1 Medal each.

   If player Green placed more Pioneers on this tile, nobody would get any additional Medals.

2. If you are the first player to place a Pioneer on a Galaxy Tile on the border of the universe, you get 1 Medal, regardless of the number of Pioneers you placed there. This may happen once on each border tile.

C2. Using Medals

You can spend your Medals anytime during your turn.

1. Upgrade: Spend the number of Medals indicated on your Character Tile. Then, move the corresponding Pioneer in your Cockpit one space up.

   You may now immediately take 1 additional movement action for this turn (only). As usual, this can be a Spaceship navigation or a polarization.

   If you navigate, you must chose from your remaining options in the Cockpit.

2. Increase your Technology Level: Spend the number of Medals indicated on your Character Tile.

   Then, move the corresponding Pioneer in your Cockpit one space up.

   You thereby increase your hand limit for Technology Cards and thus increase the number of cards you may draw at the end of your turn.

The number of Medals required to upgrade your character or to increase your technology level is indicated on each character tile.

You may only perform one character upgrade or level increase per turn.

You may not upgrade your character and increase your technology level on the same turn.

You may not upgrade your character or increase your technology level by more than one step on the same turn.

D. Regression

The Regression is a natural disaster that destroys the universe. In the game, it is represented by the Regression Monolith and the Regression Marker. At the end of her turn, each player must perform the following steps in the order given:

1. Count the number of Regression symbols visible in the Technology Center, including those visible on Technology Cards and those possibly revealed under empty Bonus Token stacks.

2. Advance the Regression Marker on the Mission Track by that number of spaces. The Regression Monolith will only move if the Regression Marker crosses the Pioneer Track.

3. Case 1: If the Regression Marker advanced across or ended on the Pioneer Track, thereby encountering a visible Regression symbol (i.e. one not covered by a Pioneer), remove from the universe (game board) the Galaxy Tile on which the Regression Monolith is located. Pioneers that happen to be on the lost Galaxy go back to the players' supply. Any Spaceships go to the Earth tile, maintaining their current dimension.

   If that Galaxy Tile has already been stabilized, it is safe and will not be removed. Next, move the Regression Monolith clockwise by a number of Galaxy Tiles equal to the number of Regression symbols, keeping to the border of the Universe.

03 | Traitor

The Traitor

A traitor from the N.O.P.E. cell, a rogue rival organization to H.O.P.E., has infiltrated your team!

If you are the traitor, you must try to force the Regression Marker to reach the end of the Mission Track before the Pioneers do so.

To win, you must also have more Pioneers on Galaxy Tiles than any other player.

If you play with a possible traitor, the players may not show their Technology Cards to other players.

Accusing the Traitor

Under the following conditions you can accuse another player of being the traitor:

• Each player can only make one accusation per game, only at his turn.
• You must have at least one character upgrade to accuse someone.
• You must have an equal or higher upgrade level as the accused player.

If your upgrade level is equal, you must have more Medals than the accused player. If you also have the same number of Medals, you cannot accuse that player. Once the traitor has been revealed, no further accusations are possible.

• If the accused player is in fact the traitor:
  • He loses all his upgrades and technology level improvements and the accusing player gets 2 Medals.
  • The traitor keeps his Medals but cannot gain any more for the rest of the game.
• If the accused player is not the traitor:
  • The accusing player loses 1 technology level improvement step.
• If the traitor reveals himself voluntarily, only at his turn:
  • He loses all his upgrades and technology level improvements and he can neither upgrade nor raise the technology level again during this game.
  • He keeps his Medals but cannot gain any more Medals in this game.

The Traitor's Power

Once the traitor has been revealed by any means, he can execute his special power and can coax those Pioneers that are already on planets to abandon them.

From every Galaxy Tile he enters he may remove as many Pioneers from any dimension as he wants by spending 1 Medal per Pioneer removed.

04 | Game End

When Does the Game End?

The game will end when any of the following 3 conditions is met:

1. The Pioneers reach the end of the Mission Track before the Regression Marker does. H.O.P.E. has saved the universe and the traitor has lost. Finish the current game round so that everyone has had the same number of turns. If there is a surplus of Pioneers to be placed on the track, place them next to the others on the track. They count for determining the victor.
2. The Regression Marker reaches the end of the Mission Track before the Pioneers do. H.O.P.E. has failed the universe. Regardless, the players finish the current game round.
3. The Earth Tile vanishes. All is lost. All hope is gone - until the next game of HOPE. The game ends immediately, do not finish the game round.

Finding the Winner

If there is a traitor and he has not yet been revealed, he reveals himself now.

Victory of H.O.P.E.

H.O.P.E. wins if the Pioneers arrive at the end of the Mission Track before the Regression Marker does.

To find a single winner, count each player's Pioneers on the Mission Track. To this number you add your Upgrade and Technology levels. For example, the player on page 11 has a Technology level of 2.

The player with the highest number wins. Resolve ties by counting the players' Medals, then highest rank and eventually number of Technology Cards in hand.

If you are still tied, the player who comes later in player order wins (for example, 4th player wins a tie over 3rd).

Victory of N.O.P.E. (Traitor)

If you are the traitor, you win if the Regression Marker reaches the end of the Mission Track before the Pioneers do AND you have the highest number of Pioneers in the universe (on Galaxy Tiles).

You must fulfill both conditions to win. If you do not fulfill the second condition, all players lose collectively.

If the game ends because the Earth Tile vanishes, the traitor wins regardless of his number of Pioneers in the universe.

05 | Variants

Difficulty Levels

You may vary the difficulty of the game by adjusting the number of Bonus Tokens. To do this, change the number of Bonus Tokens in the Technology Center stacks.

Level	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Normal	3	3	10
Advanced	3	2	11
Expert	2	2	12
Hero	2	1	13

If you play without a Traitor, remove 1 Bonus Token each from the stacks 1 and 2.

If you play with Bug Cards, add 1 Bonus Token each to the stacks 1 and 2.

The Bug Cards

The technologies used by the Pioneers are not yet stable and their faults may affect your game.

During setup shuffle the deck of Bug Cards and place them face down near the board.

When a player stabilizes a Galaxy Tile, she draws one Bug Card from the deck and applies its effects immediately.

When the card effect has been resolved, remove it from the game.

There are two types of Bug Cards: Bonus and Malus.

Some Bug Cards (i.e. those with the card-arrow symbol) remain in effect until a new Bug Card is drawn. The moment the new Bug Card is drawn, remove the old one from the game.

Some Bug Cards (i.e. those with the lightning symbol) indicate an action that must be taken immediately and only once.

Players must pay Medals to activate the Bonus effect of a card or to avoid the Malus effect of a card. If the players cannot or do not want to pay the required price, the Bonus effect will be cancelled, while a Malus effect will be activated.

Any player may contribute to the payment (i.e. to the required number of medals). After negotiating this, discard as many Medals as there are players in the game.

You may substitute any of the Medals by paying 2 identical Technology Cards; this kind of substitution is only allowed in this special case.

One pair of Technology Cards equal one Medal.

Certain Bug Cards have an additional cost (a plus-Medals symbol). You must pay this additional cost (1 or 2 Medals) on top of the normal cost to activate or avoid the card.

After that, the current player continues with her turn.

06 | Characters

The Brave

When he places a pioneer on an empty Galaxy Tile on the border of the Universe, he draws a Technology Card from the deck.

The Earthling

When she enters the Earth Tile, she draws two Technology Cards from the deck. She may exceed her hand limit to draw these cards.

The Prodigy

At the beginning of his turn, he may spend a Technology Card of the Galaxy he is on (or a Joker Card, or two identical cards) to be teleported to the same dimension on another Galaxy Tile of the same technology.

The Prism

Once per turn, she can place a pioneer on another dimension of the Galaxy Tile she is on, by doubling the required numbers of cards.

F.A.Q.

Technology Card

Which Technology Cards are identical? Technology Cards are identical when they show the same technology symbol.

Border of the Universe

What exactly is the border of the Universe? All Galaxy Tiles that have at least one free side towards the outside.

Stabilizing a Galaxy Tile

What happens with gaps in the Pioneer path created by the Regression Marker when I stabilize a Galaxy Tile? In contrast to gaps created by removing Pioneers, such a gap always remains until the end of the game.

Regression

When the Regression Monolith moves, do I count all Galaxy Tiles or only those who are yet instables? You count all Galaxy Tiles, even the stable ones.

The Prism

When using her ability, may The Prism mix card playing options? Yes, she may, for example, play one fitting Technology and one Joker, or one Joker plus 2 identical cards, etc..

The Prodigy

May he use his power on stabilized Galaxies? No, his power is not available on stabilized Galaxies.

Bonus Tokens

Must the Bonus Stack 3 always get the indicated number of tokens? No, this is not necessary, but there must be at least 5 tokens on that stack.

Traitor

What happens if the accusing player does not have a Technology Level upgrade? He does not lose anything.

Tricks: Do not tell the truth about the Technology Cards in your hand. Speed up the Regression rate in the Technology Center.